The wife of Hughes Rachel Hughes said: “I am grateful that he is alive and I can touch him”. In July the couple will be married for 20 years.

Hughes suffered the injury in lung and kidney from the virus and was immediately taken from the hospital to the emergency center in the ambulance. However, he thanked medical staff and his family before he left in an ambulance. His wife also got to hug him before he left.

“I was emotional and nervous. It all lasted so long,” she said.

She also contracted COVID-19, but fully recovered without hospitalization.

Well-wishers and employees of the veterans Administration were lined up for three quarters, waving flags and balloons, to celebrate the recovery of the Hughes.

Hughes, a veteran of the air force, is one of the pastors at New Covenant Christian Church in Denver.

“Every time the phone rang, I was afraid to answer,” said Rachel Hughes on the hospitalization of her husband.

She also expressed gratitude to the ICU team: “They supported us financially and spiritually; it’s truly a blessing.”

“I’m just thankful he is alive and able to move to the next stage — rehabilitation, said Rachel Hughes. — Then, the next stage, and then go home.”